Rushdie backs Straw in row over Muslim veils

Rushdie backs Straw in row over Muslim veils

Wednesday 11 October 2006 11.39 EDT
First published on Wednesday 11 October 2006 11.39 EDT

Salman Rushdie, who was forced into hiding after receiving death threats over his novel, The Satanic Verses, criticised the Muslim veil yesterday, saying it "sucks".

The writer, who was once the subject of a fatwa by Ayatollah Khomeini and needed round-the-clock police protection, said in an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that he regarded the veil as a way of taking power away from women.

In the interview he supported Jack Straw, who sparked a debate last week when he urged Muslim women to abandon the veil because it hampered community relations.

Mr Rushdie said: "He was expressing an important opinion which is that veils suck - which they do. Speaking as somebody with three sisters and a very largely female Muslim family, there is not a single woman I know in my family or in their friends who would have accepted the wearing of a veil.

"The battle against the veil has been a long and continuing battle against the limitation of women so, in that sense, I am completely on his side.

"I think the veil is a way of taking power away from women."

He is the latest public figure to air his views on the full veil or niqab and his comments have angered moderate and extremists within the Muslim community.

Omar Bakri Muhammad, a cleric living in Beirut after being forced to leave Britain because of his radical views, said Rushdie was an apostate whose life was still in danger. He said: "He will continue living his life in hiding. Any fatwa will stand until it is fulfilled. He is always going to be worried about a Muslim reaching him."

Other Muslims accused the 59-year-old writer, who is married to Indian model and actor Padma Lakshmi, of seeking being an attention seeker.

The row, which began with Mr Straw's comments last Thursday, shows no signs of abating. Tony Blair finally broke his silence on the issue and backed Mr Straw for raising it. He acknowledged that wearing the veil was a matter of personal choice, but said it was "perfectly sensible" to discuss it. Mr Blair said: "It's a difficult, tricky debate to enter into, as we can see over the past few days, but he raised it in a very sensible and measured way."

But John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, has taken a different stance, defending the right of Muslim women to wear the veil.